# List of mayors and city managers of Lowell, Massachusetts

This is a list of mayors and city managers of Lowell, Massachusetts. Lowell became a city in 1836. From 1836 to 1943 the mayor of Lowell was the chief administrative officer of the city. Lowell switched to a Massachusetts "Plan E" form of city government in 1943, since January 1, 1944 the city has been administrated by a professional city manager, the office of mayor, while retained under "Plan E", is strictly a ceremonial one.

## Mayors

| # | Mayor | Term | Party | Notes |
| 1st | Elisha Bartlett | 1836–1838 | Whig | |
| 2nd | Luther Lawrence | 1838 – April 17, 1839 | Federalist | |
| A | Elisha Huntington | April 1839 – April 1840 | Whig | Became acting mayor after the death of Luther Lawrence in April 1839. |
| 3rd | Elisha Huntington | April 1840 – April 1842 | Whig | |
| 4th | Nathaniel Wright | April 1842 – April 1844 | Citizens ticket, (1842); Whig (1843) | |
| 5th | Elisha Huntington | April 1844 – January 1846 | Whig | |
| 6th | Jefferson Bancroft | 1846–1848 | Whig | |
| 7th | Josiah B. French | 1849–1850 | Coalitionist/Democratic | |
| 8th | James H.B. Ayer | 1851 | Whig | |
| 9th | Elisha Huntington | January 1852 – January 1853 | Whig | |
| 10th | Sewall G. Mack | 1853–1854 | Whig | |
| 11th | Ambrose Lawrence | 1855 | Native American Party | |
| 12th | Elisha Huntington | 1856 | Whig | |
| 13th | Stephen Mansur | 1857 | Republican | |
| 14th | Elisha Huntington | January 1858 – January 1859 | Whig | |
| 15th | James Cook | 1859 | Republican | |
| 16th | Benjamin C. Sargent | 1860–1861 | Republican | |
| 17th | Hocum Hosford | 1862–1865 | Citizens ticket (1862–1863), Republican (1864) | |
| 18th | Josiah G. Peabody | 1865–1866 | Republican | |
| 19th | George F. Richardson | 1867 – January 4, 1869 | Republican | |
| 20th | Jonathan P. Folsom | January 4, 1869 – 1870 | Republican | |
| 21st | Edward Fay Sherman | 1871 | Republican | |
| 22nd | Josiah G. Peabody | 1872 | Republican | |
| 23rd | Francis Jewett | 1873–1875 | Republican | |
| 24th | Charles A. Stott | January 1, 1876 – 1877 | Republican | |
| 25th | John A. G. Richardson | January 7, 1878 – 1879 | Democratic | |
| 26th | Frederic T. Greenhalge | 1880 – January 2, 1882 | Republican | |
| 27th | George Runels | January 2, 1882 | Republican | |
| 28th | John J. Donovan | 1883–1884 | Democratic | First Irish-American Mayor of Lowell |
| 29th | Edward J. Noyes | 1885 | Republican | |
| 30th | James C. Abbott | 1886–1887 | Democratic | |
| 31st | Charles Dana Palmer | 1888 – January 1891 | Republican | |
| 32nd | George W. Fifield | January 1891 – 1892 | Democratic | |
| 33rd | John J. Pickman | 1893–1894 | Republican | |
| 34th | William F. Courtney | 1895–1897 | Democratic | |
| 35th | Col. James W. Bennett | 1898 | Republican | |
| 36th | Jeremiah Crowley | 1899–1900 | Democratic | Irish-American |
| 37th | Charles A. R. Dimon | 1901 – May 5, 1902 | Democratic | |
| A | William E. Badger | 1902 | Republican | Acting |
| 38th | Charles E. Howe | 1903–1904 | Republican | |
| 39th | James B. Casey | 1905–1906 | Democratic | Irish-American |
| 40th | Frederick W. Farnham | 1907–1908 | Republican | |
| 41st | George H. Brown | January 1, 1909-January, 1910 | Republican | |
| 42nd | John F. Meehan | 1910–1911 | Democratic | Irish-American |
| 43rd | James E. O'Donnell | 1912–1913 | Democratic | Irish-American |
| 44th | Dennis J. Murphy | 1914–1915 | Democratic | Irish-American |
| 45th | James E. O'Donnell | 1916–1917 | Democratic | |
| 46th | Perry D. Thompson | 1918–1921 | Republican | |
| 47th | George H. Brown | 1922 | Republican | |
| 48th | John J. Donovan | 1923–1926 | Democratic | |
| 49th | Thomas J. Corbett | 1927–1928 | Democratic | |
| 50th | Thomas H. Braden | 1929–1931 | Republican | |
| 52nd | Charles H. Slowey | 1932–1933 | Democratic | |
| 53rd | James J. Bruin | 1934–1935 | Democratic | |
| 54th | Dewey G. Archambault | 1936–1939 | Republican | First Franco-American Mayor of Lowell |
| 55th | George T. Ashe | 1940–1943 | Democratic | |
| A | Joseph J. Sweeney | 1943 | Democratic | Acting mayor. Last mayor before the City Manager form of government was established under a Massachusetts Plan E Charter. |
| 56th | Woodbury F. Howard | 1944–1945 | Republican | First ceremonial mayor. Beginning of the weak mayor system. City manager form of government established on January 1, 1944. |
| 57th | Leo A. Roy | 1946–1947 | Republican | |
| 58th | George A. Ayotte | 1948–1949 | Republican | |
| 59th | William C. Geary | 1950 | Democratic | |
| 60th | George C. Eliades | 1951–1952 | Democratic | First Greek-American Mayor of Lowell |
| 61st | Henry Beaudry | 1952–1953 | Republican | |
| 62nd | John Janas | 1954–1955 | Republican | First Polish-American Mayor of Lowell |
| 63rd | Samuel S. Pollard | 1956–1959 | Democratic | |
| 64th | Raymond J. Lord | 1960–1961 | Republican | |
| 65th | Joseph M. Downes | 1962–1963 | Democratic | |
| 66th | Ellen A. Sampson | 1964–1965 | Republican | First Female Mayor of Lowell |
| 67th | Edward J. Early Jr. | 1966–1967 | Democratic | |
| 68th | Robert G. Maguire | 1968–1969 | Democratic | |
| 69th | Richard P. Howe | 1970–1971 | Democratic | |
| 70th | Ellen A. Sampson | 1972–1973 | Republican | |
| 71st | Armand W. LeMay | 1974–1975 | Democratic | |
| 72nd | Leo J. Farley | 1976–1977 | Democratic | |
| 73rd | Raymond F. Rourke | 1978–1979 | Democratic | |
| 74th | Robert C. Maguire | 1980–1981 | Democratic | |
| 75th | M. Brendan Fleming | 1982–1983 | Democratic | |
| 76th | Brian J. Martin | 1984–1985 | Democratic | |
| 77th | Robert B. Kennedy | 1986–1987 | Democratic | |
| 78th | Richard P. Howe | 1988–1991 | Democratic | |
| 79th | Tarsy T. Poulios | 1992–1993 | Democratic | |
| 80th | Richard P. Howe | 1994–1995 | Democratic | |
| 81st | Edward "Bud" Caulfield | 1996–1997 | | |
| 82nd | Eileen Donoghue | 1998–2001 | Democratic | |
| 83rd | Rita Mercier | 2002–2003 | Democratic | |
| 84th | Armand Mercier | 2004–2005 | | |
| 85th | William F. Martin | 2006–2007 | Democratic | |
| 86th | Edward "Bud" Caulfield | 2008–2009 | Democratic | |
| 87th | James L. Milinazzo | 2010–2011 | Democratic | Italian-American |
| 88th | Patrick O. Murphy | 2012–2013 | Independent | Inaugurated at age 29, youngest mayor in Lowell history |
| 89th | Rodney Elliott | 2014–2016 | Democratic | |
| 90th | Edward J. Kennedy | 2016–2018 | Democratic | |
| 91st | William Samaras | 2018–2020 | Democratic | |
| 92nd | John Leahy | 2020–2022 | Independent | |
| 93rd | Sokhary Chau | 2022-2024 | Democratic | First Cambodian mayor in the United States. |
| 94th | Daniel Rourke | 2024–present | | |

## City Managers

| # | City Manager | Term | Notes |
| 1st | John J. Flannery | 1944–1952 | |
| 2nd | Ulysses J. Lupien | 1952–1953 | former Massachusetts Director of Civil Service (1939–1944) |
| A | William Sullivan | 1953 | |
| 3rd | Frank E. Barrett | 1953–1962 | |
| 4th | Cornelius Desmond | 1962–1963 | former State Representative (1941–1962) |
| 5th | P. Harold Ready | 1963–1966 | |
| 6th | Charles Gallagher | 1966–1970 | |
| A | Leo Morris | 1970 | |
| 7th | James Sullivan | 1970–1974 | former and future City Manager of Cambridge, Massachusetts (1968–1970, 1974–1981) |
| A | Robert W. Healy | 1974 | future City Manager of Cambridge, Massachusetts (1981–2013) |
| 8th | Paul J. Sheehy | 1974–1975 | former State Representative (1965–1972) |
| A | William Busby | 1975 | |
| 9th | William S. Taupier | 1975–1979 | former Mayor of Holyoke (1968–1975) |
| A | Victor Normand | 1979 | |
| 10th | B. Joseph Tully | 1979–1987 | former State Senator (1971–1979) |
| 11th | James Campbell | 1987–1991 | |
| A | James Kennedy | 1991 | Assistant City Manager |
| 12th | Richard Johnson | 1991–1995 | former Mayor of Taunton (1982–1992) |
| 13th | Brian J. Martin | 1995–2000 | former Mayor (1984–1985) |
| 14th | John F. Cox | 2000–2006 | former State Representative (1983–1995) |
| A | James Kennedy | 2006 | Assistant City Manager |
| 15th | Bernard F. Lynch | 2006–2014 | 1st Town Manager of Chelmsford (1989–2006) |
| A | Michael Geary | 2014 | City Clerk (Dec. 2011-present) & former City Councilor (1994–1996) |
| 16th | Kevin J. Murphy | 2014–2018 | former State Representative (1997–2014) |
| 17th | Eileen Donoghue | 2018–2022 | former Mayor (1998–2002) & State Senator (2011–2018) |
| A | Michael Geary | 2022 | City Clerk (Dec. 2011-present) & former City Councilor (1994–1996) |
| 18th | Thomas Golden Jr. | 2022–present | former State Representative (1995–2022) |